Clotheslines??

[neptune2000]

Clotheslines.....

AHHHhhhh, the memories.....
Growing up in New Jersey - clotheslines were in every yard - the trans-continental variety with a pully at each end. We didn't have a tree in the back yard - so a " clothesline pole " ( I think - a used telephone pole ) was installed as far from the back porch as possible.
Clothes hung out in the winter that froze - had the best smell ever - - it can't be duplicated in any way. Bedlinens were especially wonderfull - and needed only folding.
Then there was a whole seperate catagory called
" starch wash " which was soaked in starch solution and hung out soppy wet - ( anyone else remember those half gallon jugs of blue " Linit " starch ? ) those came back into the house dry and virtually imobile - Dry as a cracker. They had to be re-dampened, and rolled up and rested for a few hours or so before they could be ironed. ( this included shirts, uniform dresses for my Grandmother, and a few other selected items.)
These were ironed without a steam iron - and were the crispest collars and creases EVER.! These days - if I mention Wet Pressing - nobody knows what I'm talking about... :-(

I'm dateing myself dreadfully ! - Don't get me started on Curtain stretchers ( ouch ! ) or Mangles ( rotary ironers ). With a bit of practice , one could knock off a shirt every two minutes, and of course ALL household linens from bed linen to dishtowels were pressed in similar fashion.
I'd give anything to have a mangle today - but the last one I had bit the dust 10 years ago - went up in a cloud of smoke...

Thanks for the Memories.....

Neptune2000

 

[kenmore1978]

Line Drying

The only thing I dry on the line are items that say "Line Dry" in the care instructions. No room and no time to fool with anything else. Plus, I don't have a long line set up. I use an old mop handle set up between the fence and a window sill, and hang clothes that need to be line dried on hangers on the handle.

 

[Ultramatic1]

YES I DO!

Yes I have a close line. I have one in my back yard and one in my basement.

 

[westie2]

Jean Strechers

Does anyone remember the jean strechers that went in the pant legs. Put perfect creases in them. My mother would stach them then put the strechers on and hang on clothesline. We got them from her and used while our kids were growing up have a full set of small to large. Worked great. We always hung clothes out when our kids were growing up used cloth diapers and was so good to put them out dried in very little time guess we hung out several thousand with 6 children. Our children have and are using the cloth diapers much less expensive. In this house can't put clothelines up with the neighborhood covenent. We miss the fresh smell on sheets and towels.

 

[gansky1]

I have a clothesline in the basement as well, my grandmother always had one stretched across her laundry room for drying many things that couldn't be dried in the dryer. It's a retractable clothesline, I took it down when we cleaned out their house and have moved everywhere I've lived, now it's hanging in my basement laundry room - always out, used constantly.

I've heard of jeans stretchers but have never seen one. How do they work?

 

[DADoES]

The woman who lived across from us 20 years ago used jeans stretchers for line-drying.

 

[Royalhdw]

I remember as a child my mom always hung things out to dry escept in the winter.
Today, life is just too fast paced for that sort of memory-maker, but I do have a wooden fold up clothes dryer for certain times like when the dryer doesn't finish an extra heavey bed comforter or a jacket or if the instructions say "hang dry".
We have a hardware store and used to sell lots of clothesline, props and poles, but lately haven't sold these in a long, long time.

 

[angus]

Hi, Greg - those jeans stretchers were also used for any cotton pants. Literally they were long rectangular metal frames that were adjustable for sizes. You would have wet starched the pants, then fit them over the frame, usually set so there would be a crease down the middle of the front. Since the frames fit tightly, you ended up with almost wrinkle free pants. Very useful for the regulation navy blue cotton pants I had to wear every day as part of the Catholic school uniform. I recall that everyone had those in our apartment building. In fact I still have those hanging in the garage.

 

[cehalstead]

pants stretchers

I have and still use my Mom's pants stretchers. She used them for my Dad's work pants. I use them for Docker type pants, and I never have to iron them. www.vermontcountrystore.com still sells them.....

 

[westie2]

Pant Strechers

Still have 6 or 7 pair of strechers haven't used then in a couple of years. We used them all the time when kids wer ein school sure saved ironing then everything went to the relaxed look. Mother said sure helped on her ironing even though whe had an Ironrite ironer. Had to iron al the shirts and my sisters big poodle type 50's skirts.

 

[tlee618]

My mom also always used pant strechers. I still have a few sets that I saved from hers and use them often. They work great on Dockers as well as Jeans. A perfect crease and no ironing needed. Seems like I saw them offered in some catalog not to long ago.

 

[gansky1]

That's interesting, now that you all describe them, I'm sure I've seen them before altough I don't remember my grandmother using anything like that. She may have at one time as I do remember the glove stretchers used for drying cotton gloves.

 

[hoovermatic]

Line drying is still very popular in the UK despite the gross misconception that it rains 365 days of the year here. In the summer I always dry outdoors and can dry a line of washing in no time at all on a hot breezy day. I always put towels and underwear through the dryer afterwards on low heat for about 10 mins to soften them up. I love the smell of line dried laundry and the risk of shrinking is eliminated. In the winter a dryer is a massive help but as soon as I can I am hanging laundry outdoors. In fact, I have dried three lines of laundry today and my bedlinen is currently blowing away in the early evening breeze (not all that warm though)

 

[JerseyMike]

To this day, my 80 year old mother does not own a clothes dryer. (If she had her way, she'd still be using a wringer instead of an automatic, but I digress.) She has two lines in her back yard, both are on pulleys and run between the back door and a clothesline pole at the end of the yard. It's wooden and kind of sort of resembles a telephone pole, complete with spikes that you use to climb the pole if you need to replace a broken line or pulley. (I try not to let that happen. Once or twice a year, I use duct tape to join a new pieces of rope to the old lines and slowly -- very slowly -- thread it through the pulleys. It's easier then climbing the pole! Fortunately, pulleys don't have to be replaced that often. Wooden clothesline poles are getting harder and harder to find. There's only one clothesline pole dealer in the local yellow pages and a friend tells me that her parents replace their wooden pole with a metal one the last time that they needed to have theirs replaced.)

My parents live five blocks from me. I live in an apartment and have to make do with coin operated laundry equipment. Every once in a while, I bring some wet laundry over to my parents house and hang it on the line. I agree, there's NOTHING that smells as fresh as line dried linens. ESPECIALLY in the winter. I don't know why, but -- to me -- line dried clothes smell especially fresh during a cold winter day.

If I don't feel like walking over to my parents (we live in an urban area, so parking is at a premium), I sometimes stretch a small line in the hall between my bathroom and living room, so I can dry those things that I don't want to put in the dryer. I also have a folding rack for that purpose. It can take up to 24 hours to dry some of the heavier things, so I try not to do this too often.

My mom also still uses "pants stretchers". If they're used indoors (say on a rainy day), you can actually position them so that they remain "standing" while the pants are drying.

Mike

 

[maytagbear]

Haven't line dried in years.

We only would line dry during the summer. Ma taught, and during the school year, everything was dried in the dryer.

We had a succession of the umbrella style folding poles.

Ma actually preferred things dried in the dryer. I think it had something to do with her having been born in 1922, before dryers

We have always had gas heated dryers, and therefore until recently, drying hasn't been the major expense it can be with an electric.

My landlord was willing to put in the hookups because my dryer is gas. I don't think he wanted to put in a second 220 outlet.
(Now if I could get him to put in a gas stove!!)

I agree about sheets dried on the line, but do not like towels dried on the line. They may be more absorbing, but too scratchy, even with an overdose of Downy.

Here I couldn't. Even if the landlord would let me put up a line, this neighbourhood is "marginal," and things would walk off.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[partscounterman]

Hina and her Laundry problems

Hina had a big problem that she could not solve, which was frustrating for her as she was a goddess. The days were too short for her tapa clothes to dry successfully. So she asked her son, the demigod Maui, to do something about this. Maui ended up throwing a big rope around the sun. He promised only to let go of the sun if it would just walk more slowly across the sky. The sun agreed to Maui's demand, so now the days are long enough to get the washing dry. So our days are 24 hours long due to a laundry problem.
This legend is told by many South Pacific peoples. Maui did a few other cool things, but nothing else related to Laundry....

 

[agitatethis]

I have a nice clothesline. Use it as often as possible here in Louisiana's crazy weather. One problem, when the Starlings (Blackbirds) return in March every year, there are thousands if not millions of them that swarm my property and let me tell ya, they can destroy a days wash in a matter of seconds if they light in the trees over my clothesline. Droppings like you have never seen.

 

[Designgeek]

Observation about indoor line drying: How fast the clothes dry depends on how much stuff you're hanging at one time. This is because each article is releasing moisture into the air, which adds up and increases the indoor humidity, thereby reducing the rate of evaporation of all the pieces that are on the lines.

When I do one or two loads on a given evening (e.g. separate mid-week wash and weekend wash) and hang them up, everything dries in a matter of a few hours, even the blue jeans. If the weather is damp it can take overnight to get everything dry.

When I let the laundry accumulate for the whole week and do four loads on a Saturday afternoon or evening, it typically takes overnight to get everything dry; sometimes as long as 24 hours. And the indoor air feels noticeably humid while this is going on.

When the weather warms up starting in spring, and I have some windows open and have a fan running, it will be interesting to see how these drying times are affected.

NOTE: Fire safety! Do Not hang clothes above or anywhere near a heater unless you are watching them at all times, and turn off the heat before going to bed!.

 

[frontaloadotmy]

Dual Fuel

My new house has a dryer and it is strange to adapt to the
convenience after using an outside 4 wire line for the last
7 years. I used several wooden racks over the floor furnace
during the winter. One of the things I will do when it warms up and dries out will be to rig a clothesline.